Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
Morning Star, May 31, 1993, pg. 2 At this time of year we turn our thoughts towards the end of the school year and the graduation of the senior class at Albion High School. Our local high school has a rich history, which dates back to 1878 when the first class of seven students received their diplomas. It is always interesting at this time of year to focus on the graduation class of 100 years ago: 1893! Back then, students attended the Central School which is now the site of the Washington Gardner Junior High School. Students attended classes in the 1872-erected structure, with its east and west wings that were added on in 1885. Additions to the rear poritons of the wings were built in 1893, exactly 100 years ago. If you look behind the Junior High School today where the band room is behind the auditorium, you will see the only remaining portion of the 1885/1893 built west wing. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of Albion High School as it looked 100 years ago. This photograph comes from my book “A History of the Albion Public Schools,” which is still available and would make an excellent gift to a graduating student or to alumni of Albion High School who are returning this summer form across the country for a reunion. In the back of the book I have included the names by class, of every graduate of Albion High School. Especially interesting are the listings of the earlier classes. Local officials kept track of alumni, where they moved to, what their occupation was, and who they married. The information was readily printed in the schools annual policy book! That practice was discontinued after 1908. The Class of 1893 had 26 students, manyof whom were living all over the country after the turn of the century. As we list the class members here, notice their occupations, and where they were living. Perhaps some of these might be a lost great-aunt or uncle or some other distant relative. Unfortunately, no photograph of the class has survived locally, although class photographs were common locally after 1885. Perhaps someone has one we can share in this column at a future date. And now, we present the Albion High School Class of 1893: Edith J. Dissett (Mrs. John W. Welch), Adrian; Mae E. Pubsley (Mrs. Ervin A. Carpenter), Kalamazoo; Edmund W. Butcher, farmer, Albion; Clara L. Crane, milliner, Chicago, Ill; Mary E. Loomis, stenographer, Lansing; Myron H. Janes, Colon; Allie M. Ford (Mrs. Charles Brink), Chicago, Ill; Anna G. Ott (Mrs. Lewis Potter), Malden; Harriett Mack (Mrs. John Barnes), Atlanta, Ga; Frank Roudenbush, clergyman, Findlay, Oh; Irene M. Clay, dressmaker, Albion; Katherine S. Welch (Mrs. Daniel McAuliffe), Albion; Minnie Jacobs (Mrs. Charles H. Julian), Wamego, Kansas; Mary L. Wolcott (Mrs. Charles Bigelow), Albion; C. Edward Bascom, mining, Burske, Idaho; Julia K. Munroe, stenographer, Chicago, Il; Cora D. Mays (Mrs. John E. Stoffer), Lansing; Ella V. McMurtrie, Homer; Fred L. Godding, actor (citiy not given); H. Daisy Davis (Mrs. Ralph Williams), Denver, Co; Mary E. Krenerick (Mrs. Daniel Holland), Detroit; N. Fane Groff (Mrs. William Noyes), Albion; Minnie A. Fuller (Mrs. Merrill Zimmerman), Eckford; Harry L. Howe, insurance agent, Hillsdale; E. Leonara Holdeman, stenographer, Colorado Springs, Co; R. Christine Metz, Albion. Albion High School Next: CIRCLE-A-TOR All text copyright, 2024 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
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